Pre-Trial Release Without Bail

Legislation proposed by Senators Kamala Harris and Rand Paul (To Shrink Our Jails, Let's Reform Bail, NYT 7/21/17, p.21) is a laudable attempt to humanize and make more effective and equitable this country's flawed system of imprisoning persons pre-trial simply because they or their families are too poor to post bail. What is remarkable is that the remedies they propose were proven effective more than half a century ago yet are still underutilized.
In 1961 the Vera Foundation's Manhattan Bail Project, conducted in New York City jails, demonstrated that persons accused of crimes and released on their own recognizance were more likely to return to court than those who posted bail. Factors such as community ties, supportive families, and having jobs were better predictors of low risk of flight than monetary deposits.
The real problem is that too many judges, fearful of public rebuke, fail to exercise their authority to release defendants without bail pending trial. The horror of prolonged , unnecessary incarceration will not be overcome until judges are better informed and act more courageously.

"Russia, Russia, Russia" So What?

Almost every day more proof emerges of collusion between the Trump campaign and Putin's Government, to affect the election and deliver the presidency to Donald Trump. Republican politicians counter, with a fair degree of accuracy, that American's are not interested in the "Russia connection" and seem to care less about the implications of that unholy alliance. Think about that. Our country has been, and will continue to be, attacked in the cybersphere  by a hostile foreign power whose actions threaten to undermine the conduct of our elections and destroy the foundation of our democracy and our fellow citizens are tired of hearing about it.
Does this make it, as Republican's insist,  an unimportant, non-issue unworthy of further investigation? On the contrary, this apparent lack of public interest is an indictment of today's politicians who fail to sound the alarm, put country before party and mount a defense to this existential challenge.